Oracle Completes Hyperion Buy

Oracle closed its Hyperion acquisition today, completing its biggest acquisition since its Siebel buy and giving the company control of a key vendor in the business-intelligence (BI) market.

Oracle, based in Redwood Shores, Calif., paid around $3.3 billion in cash for Hyperion, which had revenue of $765 million last year. Hyperion was long considered acquisition bait -- partners said they expected the company to be snapped up by a larger software vendor, with IBM and Oracle leading the betting.

Hyperion's analytics, reporting and business performance management applications will become part of Oracle's burgeoning Fusion middleware line, which already includes some analytics software acquired from Siebel. Last year, well before Oracle announced its Hyperion deal, Hyperion ported its applications to Oracle's Application Server 10g.

The BI field is rapidly shifting, with leading pure-play vendor Business Objects aggressively looking for growth to solidify its top-tier position amid increasing competition from ERP and middleware vendors. Microsoft is preparing for a BI incursion with PerformancePoint, a new product it hopes will entice Excel-dependent customers to upgrade to a fuller analytics and reporting solution. Meanwhile, Oracle had made little secret of its aspirations to grab a bigger slice of the BI pie.